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Eubank Jr. talks GGG-Brook: Hearn knew Kell would get battered

December 6th, 2017 - Comments Closed

By Marcus Richardson: In an interview, Chris Eubank Jr. really tears into promoter Eddie Hearn over the battering Kell Brook took last year when he moved up in weight to challenge IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin in in London.

Brook was stopped in the 5th round by Golovkin in a fight that was one-sided from round 3 until the match was stopped in the 5th. In the process of losing the fight, Brook suffered a broken eye socket, which sidelined him for 8 months.

Eubank Jr. says Hearn knew what would happen to Brook in the Golovkin fight, but he made the fight anyway because he’s looking out for number one. The Golovkin fight was originally offered to Eubank Jr., but he didn’t accept it under the terms presented. Eubank Jr. and his father Chris Eubank were still negotiating when Hearn offered the same Golovkin fight deal to Brook, and he accepted it.

“He took the fight, and then he got battered,” said Eubank Jr. to the squaremile.com. “Eddie knew that would happen. But he’s not really looking out for his fighters; he’s looking out for himself.”

Eubank Jr. doesn’t see Hearn as having done the right thing for Brook by matching him against Golovkin. It’s a tricky situation. Brook had been waiting his entire career for a huge payday fight against someone highly popular like Amir Khan. But with that not happening, Brook didn’t have an opportunity for a big paying fight. Brook obviously saw Khan get a big payday in stepping up to the middleweight division to face former WBC 160 lb. champion Saul Canelo Alvarez last year in May 2016, and in what appears to be a kneejerk reaction, Brook took the fight with an even more dangerous Golovkin.

Khan was badly hurt in his fight with Canelo. Khan was knocked unconscious in round 6, and he still hasn’t come back to boxing to resume his career. Hearn offered Brook his first huge payday against Golovkin. Hearn likely believed that Brook was skilled enough to survive and possibly win a decision. It’s doubtful that Hearn saw Brook having enough size and power to knockout Golovkin, but he probably thought he could maybe nick a decision. After all, the Golovkin vs. Brook fight took place in London, England, and the scoring from the judges was favorable to Brook until things starting going badly for him in round 3.

“Eddie Hearn might like some of the fighters he works with, but at the end of the day he has to look after number one, which is himself and his family,”. ”He’s not always going to do the best for his fighters – my father will always do the best for me.”

Ultimately, Hearn tries to give his fighters the biggest paydays they can get. For Brook, Golovkin was the biggest payday on the horizon. There was nobody else available and/or interested that could have given Brook the kind of money that a fight with Golovkin would bring. Khan would obviously bring more money to a fight with Brook, but he wasn’t interested in fighting him. A year later, Khan STILL isn’t interested in fighting Brook. So, Hearn offered Brook his only shot at a big payday by giving him the chance to fight Golovkin, and Brook took it and he made a lot of money. Hearn’s job is to make the most money for his fighters. Hearn knows his guys have a small window to make as much money as possible before their careers are over. Offering the Golovkin fight to Brook made sense for Hearn to do at the time because there were no other options available for a big payday for Speak K.

The eye injury Brook suffered could have happened against anybody. Golovkin just hit Brook with a shot at a weird angle and caught him in the eye. Brook said it himself after the fight that Golovkin isn’t that big of a puncher like people think he is. Brook suffered the same injury against Errol Spence Jr. in his last fight, so it’s not necessarily a bad thing that Hearn matched him against Golovkin. The fight made Brook more popular, and unfortunately his first match after that was against Spence rather than someone a little easier.

Ideally, that would have been the way for Brook to go. After a hard fight Golovkin, Brook should have vacated his IBF title and taken an easier fight against a welterweight or junior middleweight.